Spinner Question

[ErikRuud]

I built a spinner last night.  I got all of the mechanical parts put together including the encoder wheel.  I used the encoder design from the Cheep Spinner instructions.  

I did not have time last night to desloder the optical sensors and remount them as shown in the Cheep Spinner instructions, so temporarily mounted the mouse circuit board on a piece of brass strip similar to what is shown in the Twisty-Grip spinner instructions.

Because of the large encoder wheel, I had to use the up/down optics.  There was no way to get the encoder between the left/right optics.

This set up let me test that my spinner set up worked, but it did not allow me to actually play any games, becuse they are set to use left/right not up/down.  I thought there was a way to reconfigure MAME for this, but I could not figure it out.

Does anyone know how?  I won't have time to remount the up/down optics until next week, and I really want to try playing Tempest with a spinner before then.

[mpm32]

Did you use the screen door bearing as shown?  I tried building one but, when I got it together, that bearing didn't spin very nicely so I scrapped it. I'm going with a hardrive spinner instead.  I found a nice heavy threaded metal knob I am going to use but I just need to find a stepped bolt to go from the thread size in the HD up to the thread size in the knob.  I'll tap one myself if I can't find one.  Anyone know a source for stepped bolts?

[ErikRuud]

I did not build mine with the screen door bearings.  

I picked up a pair of flanged roller bearings at my local Ace Hardware.  The outer diameter of the bearing is 1-1/8 and the flange is about 1-3/8.  The inner diameter was 3/8, so I used a 3/8 od 1/4 id bushing so that the 1/4 threaded rod would fit properly.  

To mount the spinner I drilled a 1-1/8 hole in my control panel.  I then put one bearing in the hole from the top, and the other one went in from the bottom.  The knob on the top and a nut on the bottom, put just enough pressure on the two bearings to hold them snugly in the hole.  I used two bearings because it eliminated the wobble that was ocurring with only one bearing.

These bearing were packed with a heavy grease just like the screen door bearings.  I had to clean out the grease just like the Cheep Spinner instructions mention.  Make sure you flood the bearing with the WD-40 and keep spinning the bearing to make sure you get out all the grease.  I had to do it three times to get my bearing spinning well.

[u_rebelscum]

Because of the large encoder wheel, I had to use the up/down optics.  There was no way to get the encoder between the left/right optics.

This set up let me test that my spinner set up worked, but it did not allow me to actually play any games, becuse they are set to use left/right not up/down.  I thought there was a way to reconfigure MAME for this, but I could not figure it out.

Does anyone know how?  I won't have time to remount the up/down optics until next week, and I really want to try playing Tempest with a spinner before then.

Three methods: Edit the source, EMU+, or Analog+  

For Analog+, you might want to stick with v.58 until I fix the save settings bug in v.59.

Editing the source would be pretty easy to do.  I could give details if you want go this way.

[ErikRuud]

By the time I can get the time to rewrite the source, I can rewire the optics.  Thanks anyway

[jerryjanis]

http://www.arcadeathome.com/emuplus/

Get Emu+.  It's what I use for my spinner.  It's just another build of MAME that gives you more flexibility with the analog controls.  I accidentally snapped the x axis off my mouse card like a blundering fool...  I found Emu+, which is easily configurable to the y axis.

Haven't tried Analog+, but it sounds like that'll work for you too.

(From your reply to u_rebelscum it sounded like you missed that)

[ErikRuud]

I managed to rewired the optics late Thursday night.  It only took about 15 minutes. So everything is working great.  

Friday was my daughter's birthday.  On Saturday, we had 15 kids over for her birthday party, and Sunday we had 48 relatives over for another party.  My arcade set up was a big hit.